Space cooler



Ot. 27, 1942. s. swANsoN SPACE COOLER Filed Nov. 25, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheetl Oct. 27, 1942. s v, SWANSON 2,299,939

SPACE COOLER Filed Nov. 25, 1938 3 Sheets-'Sheet 2 e572 SMQ/25072 Oct.27, 1942. s. v. swANsoN SPACE'COOLER Filed Nov. 25, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet3 Patented Oct 2.7,'` 1942 UNITED 'STATES PtrrlzNTy vori-ica SPACECOOLER Sven V. Swanson, Forest Park, Ill., assigner to RefrigerationAppliances, Inc., Chicago, lll., a corporation of Illinois ApplicationNovember 25, 1938, Serial No. 242,184

7 Claims.` (Cl. 62-140) This invention relates to space coolingequipment of the type wherein air is withdrawn from the space to becooled and brought in contact with air cooling means and then returnedto said space, and the invention has reference more particularly tofacilities for distributing this cooled air uniformly throughout thespace to be cooled without the danger of short circuiting the dischargedair to the air inlet, and for prevention of moisture particles beingcarried by the circulated air into the space to be cooled.

In refrigerators or the like wherein a room or compartment is to becooled a desirable arrangement is to locate air cooling means, such asthe evaporation coils of a refrlgerating system, in or upon an uprightwall of the room. or compartment within a housing or enclosure throughwhich air cooling means the air of the room or compartment iscirculated, the air being withdrawn from the room or compartment spaceat or near the top and, after cooling thereof by passing in contact withthe air cooling means, it is returned to the room or compartment spaceat or near the bottom thereof. Y

A convenient and advantageous way of equipping the room or compartmentwith such cooling facilities is to construct the air circulating andcooling means as an assembled structure so that it may be furnished as aunit and merely mounted at any selected location on the room lorcompartment wall, and it is desirablethat the assembled unit be simple,compact and neat and arrangedI to provide uniform distribution of thecooled air throughout the room or compartment space in which it islocated.

Such equipment, however, requires some means, such as a drip pan, belowthe cooling coils to collect the moisture from the circulated air thatcondenses on the cold surfaces of the coils and if the drip pan is at anelevation above the oor of the room or compartment, as required for neatand compact unit assembly, and arranged in the usual manner, itinterferes with circulation of the cooled air to the bottom of thecompartment, whereas if it is located at or near the floor of the roomor compartment a long housing is required to conduct the cooled air downto the point of discharge near the oor and compactness of unit assemblyis sacriced. Moreover, the ordinary drip pan arrangement at or near theiloor, while it permits circulation of the cooled air down to the bottomof the room or compartment, it does not prevent the discharging air fromshort circuiting or returning vertically direct to the air intakeopening without cooling the compartment space. Furthermore, the cooledair coming from the coils carries with it particles of the condensedmoisture which if discharged with the air out into the room orcompartment cause undesirable wetting of the :door or contents of theroom or compartment and it is accordingly desirable to remove suchmoisture particles from the cooled air before it is discharged into theroom or compartment.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide improvedequipment for circulating and cooling the air of a refrigeratorcompartment or the like; to minimize the space required for suchequipment; to permit incorporation of such equipment in a compactassembly which may 'be installed as a unit in the compartment or room tobe refrigerated; toarrange the drip pan for the cooling coils in such amanner that the cooled air from the coils is circulated down to thebottom of the room or compartment; to insure distribution of the cooledair uniformly throughout the bottom of the room. or compartment fromwhich it rises slowly and well diilused, cooling the contents of saidroom orlcompartment; to eliminate moisture particles from the cooled airbefore it is discharged into the room or compartment, and to accomplishsuch bottom circulation, uniform distribution and moisture eliminationin a simple, convenient and effective manner-these and other objectsbeing accomplished as pointed out hereinafter and as shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front view of a circulating and cooling unit assemblyconstructed in accordance with my invention, portions being broken awayto disclose details of the construction;

Fig. 2 is a vertical'sectional wew of the unit assembly taken on theline 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view looking at one end and Fig. 4 is a view looking at theother end of,` the cooling coil arrangement of the structure of Figs. 1and 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a similar view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1;

. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view on the line 1 .1 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of the drip pan mounting;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on the line 9 9 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective viewshowing somewhat diagrammatically acompartment or room equipped with an air circulating and cooling unit inaccordance with this invention.

, housing II with cooling Referring to the drawings in which I haveillustrated my invention in a preferred form for mounting, as shown inFig. 10, on an upright wall of the compartment or room to berefrigerated, the structure comprises a vertically elongated coils I2therein, the housing having an inlet at the upper end above the coilsand an outlet at the bottom below the coils, and the inlet beingequipped with a fan I3 by which air is supplied to the interior of thehousing and circulated downwardly in contact with the coils I2 to theoutlet at the bottom through which the cooled air is discharged.

The housing I I is relatively at so that it projects only a shortdistance from the wall on which it is mounted and has front and rearwalls I5 and IB respectively, two side walls I1 and a top wall I8. Asheet of metal may bel bentV as shown in Fig. 5 to form the front wallI5 and the two side walls I1 and the latter walls having out-turnedportions I9 along their rear edges with apertures to provide mountingiianges by which the assembly is secured to the wall of the room orcompartment. The rear wall I6 is also of sheet metal and provided alongthe lateral edges with forwardly extending flanges 2| by which it issecured by spot welding or otherwise to the sidewalls I1vand this rearwall with its flanges 2|.projects downwardly below the front and sidewalls of the housing as shown in Fig. 2 and is set forwardly a shortdistance from the rear edges of they side wallsy I1 as shown in Figs. 2and 5 so as to leave a space between the rear wall I6 and the wall ofthel room or compartment on which the housing is mounted, which space,it has been determined, eliminates any tendency for sweating of the saidroom wall. The top wall I8 is in the form of a cap with surroundingdownturned marginal anges 22 which embrace and are secured to the upperportions of the front, rear and side walls of the housing, as shown inFigs. 1 and 2.

The cooling coils I2 are of a type commonly employed in refrigeratingsystem and comprise a front row of vertically spaced tubes 23 connectedin series at their ends by return bends 23EL and a similar rear row ofvertically spaced tubes 24 likewise connected in series at their ends bythe return bends 24a. these tubes being supported in end plates 25 whichhave oblique upper ends 26 spot welded to the side walls I1 and offsetlower ends 2lia terminating in flanges 21 by which these end plates 25are secured to the side walls I1 of the housing for supporting the coilassembly therein. These end plates extend from the front wall I5 to therear wall I6 of the housing so that the air circulating downwardlythrough the housing passes through the space between these end plates25, and the portions of the coils 23 and 24 between said plates 25 areprovided with fins 28 in accordance with the usual practice, which alsoextend from the front wall I5 to the rear wall I6 of the housing. andfacilitate heat exchange between the circulating air and the coolingcoils 23 and 24.r

An expansion valve 29, to which liquid refrigerant is supplied from acompressor in the usual manner, is located in the upper end of the housling, substantially as shown in Fig. 1,`and has a pipe `3l) leadingtherefrom to a branch connection 3|, which communicates with the lowerends of the two rows of coils 23 and 24 and connects these rows of tubesin parallel. A similar branch connection 32 at the upper ends of the tworows of tubes 23 and 24 provide a common outlet therefrom which isconnected as at 33 to one end of a coil which consists of the dryertubes 34 and heat exchange tubes 35 which are connected in series andmounted in the plates 25. A pipe 36 leads from the other end of thiscoil 34-35 to the exterior of the housing where it is provided with acoupling 31 for convenient connection with facilities, such as acompressor (not shown) which withdraws evaporated refrigerant from thecombined coil structure 23, 24, 34 and 35 in the usual manner andconverts same into the liquid form in which it is returned through theexpansion valve 29 and pipe 30 to said combined coil structure.

For connecting the expansion valve 29 with the liquid refrigerant supplyfrom the compressor, a pipe 38 is provided which extends from theexterior of the housing'Y to the intake of the expansion valve, theprojecting end of said pipe 38 being provided with a coupling 33 forconvenient connection with the source of liquid refrigerant supply, andthe pipe 38 is formed with a loop 40 which extends between the'tuhes 35and is secured in contact therewith as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 so thatthe liquid refrigerant supplied to the expansion valve is cooled by thefinal refrigerant gas before it is returned to the compressor.

An opening 4I preferably covered by a screen 42 is/provided in the frontwall of the housing near the top through which air is drawn into thehousing by the fan I3 for circulation downwardly therein through thespace occupied by the coils 35, 34, 23 and 24, the fan being located atthe inner side of the opening 4I and screen 42 and secured to the shaftof an electric motor 43 which is mounted on a strap 44 which bxidges theopening 4I and has the ends thereof secured to the housing front wall atopposite sides of the opening 4I as indicated at 45. An annular band 46extends around the margin of the opening 4I at the inner side andsurrounds the fan, said band being secured to the motor mounting bracket44 as shown in Fig. 7 and also to clips 41 on the housing front wall(see Fig. 1) and above the opening 4I is a defiector 48 which is shapedsomewhat as shown in Fig. 2 to direct the incoming air downwardly in thehousing.

For convenience the upper portion of the housl ing front wall I5 isconstructed with a removable panel portion 49 on which the fan ismounted, said wall being formed with'an opening 50 in which the panellits and is secured by screws 5I which are threaded into plates 52 whichunderlie the corners of the opening 50. By removing the panel 49 accessmay be had to the motor and fan and also the expansion valve and otherparts in the upper portion of the housing.

For collecting moisture which condenses on the coil structure, a drippan 53 is provided below the housing and of an area suiliciently largerthan the cross sectional area of the housing to collect any moisturefrom the housing as well as the coil, structure therein, and this drippan has an outlet 54 with which connection may be made to convey awaythe collected moisture to any convenient point.

For mounting the drip pan, the latter has corner fittings 55 securedthereto by welding or otherwise at the rear corners, which said fittingsextend up above the rim of the pan and are secured by bolts 56 to theside iianges 2l of the back wall I6 which extends down below the rim ofthe pan 53.

Since the rear wall I6 of the housing extends a considerable distancebelow the side and front walls of the housing an opening is providedbetween the pan 53 and housing at the front and sides for discharge ofthe air which is circulated by the fan downwardly through the housingand as the path of flow of such circulated air is' downwardly toward thepan 53, the latter would ordinarily deflect the circulated air laterallythrough the discharge opening and when arranged, as it is preferred, atan elevation above the room or compartment oor, it` would preventcirculation of the cooled air to the bottom 4oi.' the room orcompartment and also causes short circuiting of air. f

To avoid this interference with positive circulation of the cooled airto the bottom of the room or compartment, a deiiector 58 is providedabove4 the drip pan to deflect the downwardly circulated air suicientlytoy pass the margins of the pan without interfering materially with thegeneral downward direction of the air circulation and thus insuredischarge of the cooled air down to the floor.

This deflector 58 is secured to the back wall I6 of the housing byflanges 59 and preferably extends down below the upper margin of thedrip pan with the lower margin spaced inwardly a suiiicient distancefrom the rim of the pan to insure drainage into the latter, and saiddefiector slopes upwardly to a point substantially at lthe top of thedischarge opening and at a suflicient angle to the direction of aircirculation through the housing to merely cause a relatively slightdeviation of the circulated air of sufficient extent to pass the marginsof the drip pan, thereby permitting substantially unimpeded aircirculation downwardly and insuring positive discharge of the cooled airdown to the floor of the room or compartment.

In addition to circulation of the cooled air down to the iioor of theroom or compartment, it is important for uniform cooling of thecompartment that the cooled air should be distributed or spreaduniformly throughout the bottom of the compartment, and to insurepositive distribution or spread of the cooled air at both sides of thehousing as wellas at the front thereof, the defiector 58 not only isformed with a sloping front wall 6l) but has side walls 6l which yarelikewise sloped so that the downwardly circulated air is deflectedlaterally and downwardly at each side of the housing as well asforwardly and downwardly at the front, and the deilector thus serves asa spreader to distribute or spread the cooled air uniformly throughoutthe bottom of the room or compartment and thereby insure uniformcirculation and cooling throughout the room or compartment. The drainpan outlet is 'located to the rear of the drain pan and thus below thedeiiector 58. This prevents the moisture collected in this drain panfrom being directly in the path of the discharged cold air, thuseliminating compartment. I have found that this may effectivelyaccomplished by providing a-screen of suitable mesh at the openingthrough which the cooled air is discharged, a screen of 10 mesh beingfound satisfactory and in the present structure I have accordinglyprovided a screen l2 for the opening through which the air is dischargedfrom the housing.- This screen is secured at its upper edge to the frontand side wallsli and I1 respectively of the housing and to the dependingportion of themrear wall I I and extends downwardly between the lowermargin of the deilector 58 and the rim of the pan 53 so that all thedischarged air is compelled to pass through this screen and moistureparticles effectively removed therefrom.

In Fig. 10, I have shown at 83 an air circulating and cooling unitassembly as installed on the side wall 64 of a room or compartment, theopposite side wall of which is indicated at 85, the end wallsat 66 and6l and the top and bottom walls at 68 and 69 respectively with portionsof the walls 65, 61 and 68 broken away to disclose the interior of theroom or compartment, and it will be noted that although the unitassembly 63 mounted at a substantial elevation above the floor 69 thecooled yair is circulated down to the floor 69 and distributedthroughout the floor area from which it rises slowly, uniformly and welldiffused, cooling the contents of the compartment on the -upstroke.Obviously more than one unit 53 may the danger of this moisture freezingand evenf tually closing the drain opening.

While moisture that Vcondenses on the cooled surfaces of the coils andhousings of cooling equipment for the most part drains away into the airbefore it is discharged into the room or be employed in a room ifdesired, and moreover, certain features of this invention, as forexample the deflector or spreader, the screen for moisture particleremoval, the coil arrangement and others, may be employed in structures'other than that particularly shown and described herein. Therefore, itis to be understood that while I have shown and described my inventionin a preferred form, I am aware that variouschanges and modificationsmay be made therein without departing from the principles of myinvention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appendedclaims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a refrigerating device, the combination of a housing having aninlet and an outlet, an air impeller operable to circulate air throughthe housing from the inlet to the outlet, cooling coils in the housingin the path of air circulation therethrough', a drip pan under the saidoutlet and a deflector overlying said drip pan and having a surfacebetween the drip pan and outlet which slopes downwardly from said outlettoward the front and also toward the sides of said drip pan whereby todeect the air flow from the outlet downwardly and outwardly past the panat opposite sides thereof.

2. In a refrigerating device, the combination of a vertically elongatedhousing closed at the back and having an air inlet at the upper end andan air outlet at the lower end, and deflecting means extending from theback closure of the housing and sloping downward toward the front andalso toward the sides of said housing.

3. -In a refrigerating device, the combination of a vertically elongatedhousing having an air inlet at the upper end and a drip pan at the lowerend, an air impeller operable to circulate air downwardly through thehousing from the inlet toward the drip pan, cooling coils in the housingin the path of air circulation therethrough and delecting means abovethe drip pan having a front face and opposite side faces angularlydisposed with respect thereto, said v ingr faces' being in the path ofand disposed at an obtuse angle to the direction of air ilow in thehousing, said housing having at the lower end outlets `above the drippan and in front of the aforesaid faces of ,the deilecting means.

4. A reirigerating unitot the class described comprising an uprightelongated housing closed at the bottom and ,at the back and having aninlet at the'upper end, a. blower operable" to circulate air downwardlythrough the housing from the inlet toward the closed bottom of thehousand heat exchange coils in the housing in the path of aircirculation therein, said housing having at the lower end front and sideoutlets with deilecting means back of and extending upwardly from thebottom of the outlets substantially to the top thereof adjacent saidclosed back of the housing, said deecting means being in the path of andat an obtuse angle to the direction of air circulation in the housingand said delecting means having a condensate collector at the basethereof.

5. In a refrigerating device, a vertically elongated housing having anair inlet at its upper end and air outlets adjacent its lower end in thefront and sides of the housing, an impeller for circulating air throughthe housing from the inlet to the outlets thereof, heat exchange coilsin the housing in the path of the circulated air,

and a deector for directing the circulated air downwardly and outwardlythrough said outlets, said deflector having a front face slopingdownwardly substantially from the back of said housing toward the lowerend of said front outlet and also having opposite side faces angularlydis\ posed with respect to said front face and sloping downwardly andoutwardly toward the lower ends of said side outlets.

6. In a refrigerating unit comprising a vertically elongated housinghaving an air inlet adjacent the upper end thereof and an air outletadjacent the lower end thereof, an impeller for circulating air throughthe housing from the in- -let to the outlet thereof, and heat exchangecoils in the housing in the path of the circulated air; means formounting said unit vertically against an upright wall, and means formaintaining the back of said unit in predetermined spaced relation withrespect to the. wall for affording an air space between the wall and thesaid back of the unit.

'7. In a refrigerating unit mountable vertivcally against an upstandingWall, a vertically elongated housing having front and back walls andopposite side walls, said housing having an air inlet adjacent its upperend and an air outlet adjacent its lower end, an mpeller for circulatingair through the housing from the inlet to the outlet thereof, and heatexchange coils in the housing in the path of the circulated air, theopposite side walls of said unit extending rearwardly beyond the saidback wall for maintaining the said back wall in pre-determined spacedrelation with respect to an upstanding wall when the unit is mountedagainst the same.

SVEN V. SWANSON.

